Files can be shared using myriad different technologies. For instance, message applications are designed to communicate messages between multiple devices. One of the many advantages of message applications is the capability to communicate files as message attachments. For instance, media files such as images, photographs and videos on one computing device may be attached to a message and transported to other computing devices. However, using message applications to send attachments is highly inefficient in that they need to make multiple copies of a media file, such as one for the attachment and one for each device receiving the attachment. Media files are relatively large and consume significant amounts of processing and communications resources, and therefore copying is an expensive operation. Prior solutions attempt to reduce copying by using links, such as a universal resource locator (URL) to a network storage device. However, many times links cannot be used to access media files stored in non-public storage locations. These and other limitations inhibit users from efficiently sharing media files using existing solutions. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed.